Category: Other

My 2016 In Review

My 2016 In Review

by eastasianlover ♥ 1 Comment

Oops! I realise I have taken too long a break! In the meantime, I have accumulated so much to write about. And I am finally a bit free, like comparably. My semester exams are over and I finally have some time to myself. Not that I wasn’t watching anime or k-dramas before.

Anime updates: For fall anime, as usual, I started with a bunch, dropped quite a few. And hence, I am again remaining withslice of life or sports anime with me: Natsume Yuujinchou, 3-gatsu no lion, Yuri on ice, Haikyuu, Days etc. Haikyuu finished quite early, only 10 episodes, but I thoroughly enjoyed it. Days was summer anime, I think. Although many people have been disappointed with the anime, I liked it nonetheless. Yuri on ice is a different one, enjoyable though. Natsume, as usual is the best! I will miss Natsume TT_TT

K-drama updates: I watched quite a few k-dramas this year: DOTS, The K2, W (I loved W by the way. Recommended to a friend as his first k-drama and he fell for the plot as well!! Brought another person to this world, yes!). This time I have picked up Weightlifting Fairy Kim Bok Joo and Goblin. I feel Kim Bok Joo is better than Legend of Blue Sea, it might be my personal preference though. Initial episodes of Legend of Blue Sea were hilarious, but I can’t see where the drama is going now. Whereas, it is easier to relate with Kim Bok Joo. Goblin is utterly hilarious! Tvn and JTBC have made some real gems this year.

Other dramas: In the latter half, I watched quite a few other dramas as well. Love O2O, Virtuous queen of Han Dynasty etc. I don’t remember all the names but for rom-com, love O2O is my recommendation, for now. If I remember any other which I found good, will update the post.

Variety updates: Weekly idol had been my top choice for this year as well. However, I am losing interest in it somehow. I finished whatever English subbed episodes were available for Knowing Bros. I took a bit interest in K-pop star 6 as well. The absolute favorite of mine is however Go Fighting! I started watching it for Lay but the comedy is the best. Highly recommended variety show (I am yet to try running man by the way.)

K-pop updates: Infinite! Infinite! Infinite! Yes, my recent favorite boy band came with an album this year and the title song grew up on me as usual. I got into VIXX as well, courtesy to my sister, and now I am a fan. I don’t really listen to YG groups, but black pink has certainly caught my attention. I like Big Bang’s recent song Fxxk it too. Other than that, Lay and Sistar did a good job. Lay’s ‘monodrama’ has been on my playlist for quite sometime.

Webtoons and Manga Updates: I were to release my translations for some manga but then my college started, and I did not find time to put the text in those blurbs at all. And my sister fried the hard disk of my old laptop, so all my work is gone now :/ Many webtoons ended this year, I dropped almost all of the ones I was reading because updates were really slow. Same with manga. I dropped Dice, Thousand Nine Tails, TAL, City of Dead Sorcerer, Skip Beat, Haikyuu (Damnit! Didn’t know they were these many) I am still waiting for Barakamon updates. I started reading Tsubaki-chou lonely planet, again courtesy to my sister. Another one is Fujiwara-kun no Daitai Tadashii, because I was translating it.

Language Learning Updates: Both of my languages are on hold and whatever I learnt till now went down the drain. The revision is on my agenda right now. I borrowed tons of books from my library for some winter reading, I am going to hoard some more. Let’s get some motivation!!

These are my updates for now. In weather updates, Pitts weather is super erratic. One day, it’s sunny with 15 deg C temperature, next day it’s snowing with -5 deg C temperature. Really weird.

Anyway, I need to get back and do some work so that I can write more tomorrow. I will also update a bit about the courses I took this semester and how I came to love blogging once again. See you all and happy holidays!

And for the customary song in each post, here:

Dying Languages

Dying Languages

by eastasianlover ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

So, I was taking a stroll with my mom a few days ago when we came across a lady talking to her son who wouldn’t be more than 9-10 years of age in English. The remark I made was, “If people start using English in their daily conversations like this, then what would happen to our native tongue, Hindi? Will Hindi cease to exist? Is that day coming soon?”

People tend to think that since India is the country with second largest population, Hindi must be very widely spoken. According to the stats (here and here), it indeed is true. But it is only 4th most spoken language in the world. It might fall down further in rankings thanks to the thinking of some of the people here. And my fears do seem like they’ll come true soon as this article suggests. Not that Hindi is endangered or anything, as of now. But increasing popularity of English, especially in North India, where people have made knowing English as a status symbol, and all official communication happens in English as well, is definitely harming Hindi.

I, myself, don’t recall the last time I read a proper book in Hindi, or a newspaper. In northern parts of India, those who don’t know English and who don’t talk English are thought to be the same and looked down upon. Which is wrong! I mean, not to brag, me and my family do live in a literate (educated? I have my doubts about that) society where dwell some foreigners as well. And if I am strolling with my family in the colony premises, we talk in Hindi only. I have seen people giving us looks for that (not that we give a damn!) Or people specifically talking in English, so that we don’t understand what they are saying (which has given all of us a hearty laugh many a times XD). Similarly, when I try to converse with some people, especially on phone, people switch to English so fast like speaking Hindi will render them diseased or something.

And hence, we need to learn some lessons from Chinese and Japanese and South Koreans and South Indians. While, many of the East Asians think their English skills are poor and hence shy away from using it (as stated by many of them), I do admire their nature of respecting their languages a lot. On the other hand, a majority of South Indians, I have seen, know English every well, but use it only and only when needed, like communicating with Indians from other parts of India or outside India. Or official communication. I have been on trips to South India, and I have never ever heard people talking in English amongst themselves. And I am pretty sure same would happen if I go to visit China, Japan or South Korea. I am just not very aware of European culture but I do think that same would be the case in the non-English speaking countries there as well. Or probably any other part of the world.

The one thing I fail to understand is, how and when speaking Hindi became a shameful and gawaar (uneducated, illiterate and dumb) thing. The article above, also, points out that Indian English is deteriorating as well. I am witness to this. We used to have such tough grammar lessons in our school time (active-passive voices, narratives and figures of speech were some of the toughest modules we studied during our 6th-7th grades). We used to study Shakespeare and Keats and Wordsworth. Now a days, kids have no real knowledge of grammatical structures, their syllabus pretty much ends at simple continuous tenses. They still study some literature, but majority don’t really know the essence of those works. They just study the subject to score marks. And that annoying ‘you know. at the ending of each sentence to sound cool. (¬_¬”)

I am not saying learning English is bad. Of course not. As a language enthusiast, I can never ever say that. Moreover, English is, kind of, becoming a universal language, so knowing English is definitely advantageous, rather, need of the hour. But in the process, forgetting your own mother tongue is what is problematic.

And, citing the above article again, if people are taking interest in learning Sanskrit or Hindi, that’s a win for the languages and the culture for sure. But it does leave an Indian like me enraged for the languages mentioned there are deeply rooted and always associated to Indian culture. Not that they should be restricted to us or anything. But the things that once used to make us proud are becoming things of past. And I am deeply grieved over that. Many exotic languages are dying, true, and with them, whole cultures. Which is sad as it is. But linguists making such predictions about Hindi is something indigestible but foreseeable as well.

PS: I wrote this post because two of the three languages on the verge of becoming endangered, Sanskrit and Hindi are very close to my heart. I and my sister have won many scholarships and other awards in Sanskrit in our respective school lives. Hence, I have seen the number of people who take up Sanskrit dropping from 2-3 classes of 50+ people each in 5th grade to just 4-5 people in 12th grade. And Hindi is my native tongue.

PPS: Also, this isn’t related to the ongoing political issue of replacing German with Sanskrit in Kendriya Vidyalayas (a type of schools in India) as the third language, at all. Personally, I don’t favour the decision regardless of my above views.

First Translation From Japanese

First Translation From Japanese

by eastasianlover ♥ 3 Comments

Hello all,

It’s been a long time, like reeeeally long time. But, this is to say, I am not dead XD

Anyway, I have been trying to keep myself busy these days (now that it’s been close to four months that I have been without a job 😐 and my application period is over as of now, hopefully), so apart from regular WaniKani reviews, I decided to take up translating manga. Now, it’s really easy to find raws online, I have done some chapters, one even for a scanlation group and it’s been really satisfying experience, honestly.

Although, somehow, I ended up taking up a Josei manga, which had almost no furigana with the kanji, but it was really fun. It was first in a long time that I worked day and night on something. And the appreciation I got from the community of readers, it was really a great feeling. My knowledge is helping people appraise someone else’s work. And I can immerse myself in something I love without a care in the world and forget everything else! (For now)

Moreover, I got to learn a lot. Like, if I say language-wise, had I been more diligent in keeping a tab on new things I encountered during the translation, then maybe I would have learnt more. I didn’t do that this time, but I did come to know that WaniKani has been really helpful. What I couldn’t do for five years, I have been able to do in five months. I am actually able to read some of the text in the manga without any help (I will do WaniKani review in the near future, but I am pretty sure that people, who have been learning Japanese for sometime would already be familiar with the platform)

I also came to understand the fact that, us, the normal readers, who just love to enjoy their favorite manga or anime are really at mercy of translators. When you come across raws and their translations side by side, you come to notice the anomaly between the interpretations and sometimes, meaning as well. And Japanese really has the power to throw one in that kind of loop. Also, we take the scanlations for granted. We go to famous sites like mangahere and mangafox and just enjoy the translations. But, it really is a daunting task. And I am just talking about translation here. If I had to clean the Japanese text, then fill it with English, then fonts, proofreading, damn! Hats off to the scanlators!!

PS: Is anyone following Produce101 here? They got five new songs for themselves and I find this one really catchy. Posting here:

JLPT forms for July 2016 now available in India

JLPT forms for July 2016 now available in India

by eastasianlover ♥ 4 Comments

Again an information post. The forms for JLPT to be held on 3rd July 2016 at New Delhi, India are now available at the official site of MOSAI here.

Last date to submit the form is 2nd April (Thank God, they have increased the window!) If anybody out there is taking this exam coming July, give a shout out in the comments below. It’s always interesting to share the exam preparation strategies, fun and stress XD

Hope to see you there!!!

46th TOPIK Registration Open In India

46th TOPIK Registration Open In India

by eastasianlover ♥ 2 Comments

Just to inform that registration for 46th TOPIK to be held on 17th April 2016 is open in India now and the due date for the forms is 16th Feb 2016.

Need to gear up for the exam!!! 화이팅!

More info here: 46th TOPIK 2016

The form is available for downloading on the above page itself as attached file, in case of any confusion.

[English translation + lyrics] Haikyuu!! anime opening — Imagination by SPYAIR

[English translation + lyrics] Haikyuu!! anime opening — Imagination by SPYAIR

by eastasianlover ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

Damn! Such inspiring lyrics!! Thank you for translation…

My latest inspiration: Haikyuu! OP IMAGINATION by SPYAIR

Credits to the respective owners

maehustisya's avatarmae's jp translations

Here’s my translation of Haikyuu!!’s anime opening.
Feel free to use it as long as you redirect this post.
Hope through it, you can get the gist of the song.
Enjoy!

Imagination

Singer: SPYAIR
Lyrics: MOMIKEN
Composition: UZ

*romaji,kanji,English translation

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36 Things I Have Learnt From Life

36 Things I Have Learnt From Life

by eastasianlover ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

Because I agree with “most” of the points. Great read!

Read Stuff With Me!'s avatarRead Stuff With Me

Growing up is a journey, a never-ending one. Yet, we learn something on every step of life. These things are like the revelations that existence kicks us with and those lessons that shape us, help us mature and give us an insight into the mystery of living. What I have learnt from life all these years may not be very different from what you have already learned or will eventually understand in the coming days, months or years. We all come to terms with the bitter-truths and the sweet-nothings of life. Below is a significant fraction of my set of learning:

  1. If you really want to do something, you can. There’s a reason they say: “Where there’s a will, there’s a way.”
  2. Every person is fighting a battle. Life is never easy for anyone. Any one at all.
  3. Do not judge people. Understand them. And if you can’t understand them…

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Double Standards

Double Standards

by eastasianlover ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

At lunch table today, while watching Tokyo Drift, we were talking about something and the conversation started on some matter concerning with the characters like this:

Friend: They are Chinese!

Me: Well, I don’t know about real life but in the movie, they are supposed to be Japanese people.

Friend: How does it matter? Chinese, Japanese are all same. They all look alike.

Me: Oh really? For a foreigner, an Indian, a Pakistani and a person from Afghanistan, all might be same. Is that okay with you?

Friend: How come? We’re Hindus and they’re Muslims. Totally different!

Me:…………

That’s the kind of world we live in. And this is one of the numerous examples which we hear in day to day life, from unexpected people. We say the mindset needs to be changed. How? When the young generation as us still thinks like this. We can’t bear being compared to others but we’re perfectly fine in labeling other people or segregating them as we wish. That’s how the things work.

These type of conversations ultimately lead to Oh-Why-Do-You-Become-So-Serious-When-It-Comes-To-East-Asians ending. No, if I am defending them, doesn’t mean I won’t do it when it comes to us. Either you say everybody is the same or you don’t. What’s with “Oh, they all are the same just because they look alike” attitude with people? I seriously can’t understand.

I wish I could make people, at least around me, realize that we all are just human beings, a mere entity in this whole vast universe, nothing more than that (Not that I, myself understand that in the real real sense, but you get the idea, right?).

I wish……….

2nd Blog Anniversary! Yay!

2nd Blog Anniversary! Yay!

by eastasianlover ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

The customary post for an anniversary is here *Drum roll* Now is the time to analyse my atrocities and contribution towards this blog for the past year (with the former to the MAXXXX!!)

So I have been verrrryyy busy this past year (not so much, just excuses, but considering that this post as well, is 5 days late……….) that I reduced my writing posts to once a month. Lots of decisions I took and a lot more to make in the coming future. Lots of passions I discovered and started working towards them (drums, for example 🎵) and some got into slump (languages 😩)

I did realize how I would like to write though. My posts have always been on a little serious side, and I would like to include elements of comedy in it. But I am by nature not very funny (though people keep laughing at whatever I say, I don’t know why). I also crossed the number 400  in total number of anime series and movies I have started, finished or dropped.

I made a lot of good friends (I don’t call people “friends” easily, so they’re really very cherished people for me) and faced a lot of people who would randomly ask me to die over my love towards East Asia or the lack of it towards West (not that it affects anything except my poor, really tender heart 😑).

I learnt a lot of things including how to say “No” to people and came to know about really amusing things about myself. All in all, this year was one for a lot of self-realizations.

I don’t know what else to write here (the post turned into what I did in the past year 😅). So, with the hopes that I write more frequently in future and with the below song, I will take my leave for now (and go prepare the next post for it takes me a lot of time to finalize things for two words I write every month)…

AnimeCon 2014, New Delhi, Day – 3

AnimeCon 2014, New Delhi, Day – 3

by eastasianlover ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

It came to an end yesterday. Oh no! I wanted to have more fun (:_:) But well, every good thing comes to an end sooner or later (like the summers here…….. It’s becoming cold (╹﹏╹) ).

So I reached late because I wanted to attend the Part 2 of Character Designing Workshop by Chris Solarski and Daizen Komatsuda san’s talk on Key Animation – Outlook and perspective. I was a little late for the second one.

Someone had asked Komatsuda san about sexual content in anime as he had been showing clips from Kill la Kill all three days, and such things, you can’t show at a place where small children might be present, openly, in India (I could hear giggling and smirking of people, not that young, all the time when that dress changing scene used to come in the clip (*´ο`*)=3). Someone had raised this question (before I reached there)

So Komatsuda san blew everybody’s mind (well well, it’s India) when he openly admitted that Kill la Kill is kind of alright because nipple couldn’t be seen. Moreover, in general anime, those kind of parts have to be hidden by light or hair or something else (as can be seen in echhi genre, quite frequently). He finished by saying, that he himself loves to draw people naked, both males and females (A creator’s mind works differently anyway)

Next he invited his listeners to get their portrait drawn by him (and I was sooooo jealous. Me and other people who got his autograph on the first day should have been enough! He had to go out of his way to draw like 100 more! (>.<) Well, yes I am sorry, but I am like that only). During this time, I interviewed one of the members of organizing team from CineDarbaar which I’ll post next.

Next was the part 2 of Chris Solarski. And he started with providing a review what he had taught earlier in part 1 for those who didn’t attend his workshop. He then taught about his character development process. That is something one should go and learn from his book, since I don’t become qualified to post it here or tell anybody. If you really want to know though, I can message you the notes I made out there, if you provide the email id or something in the comments below. But I am pretty sure, they’ll be useless to you anyway.

And then I became a wanderer with no aim because cosplay competition was to be held much much later. And I wasn’t in the mood to attend that (it was going to be late and all too). The last, most awesome thing I came across was this:

Cosplay 1, AnimeCon, New Delhi, 2014

 

I am sorry to all those who appear in this pic and won’t want it to be published on social platform but I have this as the most decent pic of this cosplay. And this one needs to be commended. This level, these details in India _/\_ Even the movements of this guy were robotic!

Other cosplays were also to be found (This includes pics from 2nd day cosplay too):

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And thus, ended a fun filled three day event (Oh wait! I ended my last post like this too…. Hmmm…. Need an alternate ending).

And I went on my way, happily ever after with lots of good memories and stories to tell~ (Nah……)

Ah, yes! I got the perfect ending! After this event, my love and respect for humbleness and down to earth nature of Japanese people and their loyalty towards their nation, has increased hundredfold. My choice of following this culture was indeed “elite”. I am happy that I am fan of Japan 😀

Looking forward to AnimeCon next year with great anticipation!

AnimeCon 2014, New Delhi, Day-2

AnimeCon 2014, New Delhi, Day-2

by eastasianlover ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

Well yeah. Day -2 was actually yesterday, but I got the pics today only so I would be writing about it today. Yesterday I went with my friend, so it was more fun 🙂

We attended the game character designing workshop by Chris Solarski. It was actually part of the two installments, where he told us his process of designing game characters. The workshop was based on his famous book – Drawing Basics and Video Game Art: Classic to Cutting Edge Art Techniques for Winning Video Game Design. Chris actually takes inspiration from and combines techniques of classical arts with technology. Most importantly, he showed us how shapes affect the mentality of people and how cunningly, designers use it everywhere. He also told us the importance of volume while drawing.

Now this workshop was in the real sense a workshop because Chris took us through some exercises where he made us to follow the process he follows. We were provided with the sketch books, pencils, erasers and sharpeners sponsored by Pro Helvetia (Liasion office of the Swiss Arts Council in India). It was a good experience to go through the steps a pro follows.

Umm…. ok. This workshop went on longer than expected, so we kind of, missed a lot of talks. After this one, we directly attended the Panel Discussion on Future of Anime, Manga and Video Games business in India by Jiro Ishii san, Hiroaki Matsuura san and Mihara Ryotaro san which I have discussed in my earlier post. Other than this, we mostly went around buying manga and other merchandise again and awwing over the freebies I got with my Otaku Fan pass for the convention.

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In the end, we attended the workshop by MEGA where he gave a talk over his history with illustrations and designing. It was quite similar to what he had presented in his workshop before.

Thus, came to an end, another fun filled day with a lot of lessons and a lot of inspiration from great people.

P.S.: I am going to post about the 3rd day tomorrow. With that, I have got a little interview I did with one of the member of organizers’ team which I’ll be posting very soon (otherwise I’ll forget what all she said, coz even after jotting down a lot of things remain in mind only). And also, a post is coming on what all anime fans who were in Delhi but didn’t go, missed out there and what could be better. Seems this week is busy after all!

Discussion: Future of Anime and Video Games in India – Key Takeaways

Discussion: Future of Anime and Video Games in India – Key Takeaways

by eastasianlover ♥ 3 Comments

AnimeCon 2014, New Delhi, Day-2. There was an interesting panel discussion by Jiro Ishii san, the game designer and director of acclaimed games like 999, 428: In a Blockaded Shibuya etc.; Hiroaki Matsuura san, the President; and CEO of Sanzigen and Mihara Ryotaro san, Senior Visiting Researcher of Keio Research Institute at SFC and Lecturer of School of Global Japanese Studies at Meiji University on the future of Japanese Anime and Video Games in India.

The discussion went on for about an hour, where Matsuura san basically discussed his expectations of India and his future plans, Ishii san told about his thoughts as a Japanese and Mihara san shared his perspective on general trend of anime, manga and video games throughout the world. It was supposed to be more business related but ultimately it came to general discussion.

Key Takeaways from the discussion are as follows:

1. According to Mihara san, Internet has a huge impact over anime and manga business. Since there is a lot of piracy and all, merchandising things is one of the ways to reduce the piracy and increase business.

2. Matsuura san said that he is very open minded about business practices in various countries and understands that there would be cultural and other differences everywhere. He is also very interested in knowing the animation practices from India (I so wish I had known about it) and other countries.

3.  Matsuura san also shared that he has been in talks with US animation companies for doing collaborations in future. US companies are also investing in the Japanese anime business. He also wished that Indians would also come forward to invest in anime ventures.

4. On being asked about less popularity of visual novel games outside Japan, Jiro Ishii san mentioned the cost and difficulty in translating the text to English as the main reasons.

5. On future projects to cater western audience specifically, Ishii san told that he is always trying to level up, working hard in making the content universal. According to him, gaming is already a globalized concept. He is also of the opinion that Indian landscape is close to the landscape of Japan (Yay!) 20-30 years back (Ouch! It hurts! But it’s not incorrect either…..)

Audience was also given a chance to ask questions from the panel.

1. Jiro Ishii san was asked if the Under The Dog would be able break the recent recycling of concepts of anime. He said that this project was a deliberate effort, so that the superficial team might beat the “army”.

2. On being asked about the lack of Live Actions (Ok, I am pretty sure, the guy who asked the question, didn’t watch Japanese dramas), Jiro Ishii san stated the big success of recent Rurouni Kenshin movie. He also said that many manga and anime fans are entering the film and drama industry, so there has been an increase in live action projects in last couple of years. He also showed concerns about publishers from famous manga publishing houses and magazines like Shueisha and Shounen Jump not being very enthusiastic about live action adaptations of manga they publish.

3. On the major question of 3D animes in the future, Matsuura san said that there is lot of potential out there for 3D, but 2D and 3D are nothing more than tools. In near future, 3D might be dominating the anime industry though.

In final comments, Mihara san expressed his pleasure to be present there and he also showed curiosity about the future of anime and manga in India. Matsuura san requested everybody to buy authentic merchandise than pirated ones. He said that he would like to see if Indians are willing to buy their products and if India provides a good market for their stuff or not.

In the end Ishii san called every fan of anime, manga and video games a “Cultural Elite” (a little jokingly) because we chose to follow Japanese culture. He also said that he would work hard to take everything at global level but it’s up to us, the cultural elites as well, to help them.

In summary, they all were very positive about the future of anime, manga and video games in India, but they did show their apprehensions about people switching to buy the authentic stuff.

 

PS – I’ll post the pics and reviews of 2nd day in my next post. I had jotted down the key points from this talk, so I had to share this with everyone in a separate post (^_^)